Advice Bar: exhibited at Institutional Fieldworking: CNoS @10, Northumbria University, Newcastle

Exhibition dates: 16 November - 1 December 2023
Exhibition venue: Gallery North, Northumbria University, Newcastle

Advice Bar is a participatory artwork from artist-researcher Jacqueline Donachie, that examines the potential of shared experience. At once a minimalist sculpture and a performance piece, the structure is formed from materials found to hand to create a space for two people to leanin in conversation. It is an object for a shared experience, taking the interaction required of theatre props and office equipment to facilitate a physical movement. The experiential basis of minimalist sculpture – like Robert Morris’s objects for Judson Dance Theatre or Dan Graham’s pavilions for viewing, inform the Advice Bar structure. The experience of its participants is dependent on shared common ground, through one-to-one engagement with a stranger at the familiar interface of a bar-like structure.

In previous iterations the bar hosted lawyers and voluntary organisations with experience in specific areas to share their knowledge about immigration, benefits, disability, housing, employment, family law and financial law. Responding to the enormous changes to legal aid and the benefits system that have taken place since beginning the project, Advice Bar has offered many chances to learn more about our rights. It has also simply hosted conversations between strangers, most often with young people giving advice to gallery attendees of all ages and backgrounds.